Prep Football: Le-Win uses wind to stop Aquin

Saturday

Nov 9, 2013 at 6:28 PMNov 9, 2013 at 7:49 PM

By Eron HarveySpecial to Register Star

LENA — The radio crew’s sponsored keys to the game blew out the press box, through the crowd and into the surrounding cornfields before they could be read on the air, but it’s doubtful the one key that set the tone during Lena-Winslow’s 48-20 victory — wind management — even made the inadvertently symbolic list.

The Panthers used a masterful ground game and stellar defense along with perfect management of the brisk, windy conditions to earn its win over Freeport Aquin in second round IHSA playoff action Saturday afternoon.

Winning the coin toss, Le-Win deferred to force the Bulldogs and their strong passing attack to work against the wind in the first quarter.

“We knew if we deferred and they received and we could make a statement on defense and stopped them, it would give us good field position,” said Lena running back Tyler Oakley.

The Panthers defense was up to the task, forcing a three-and-out. Punting into the wind, Anthony Townsend’s kick only went 16 yards to the Aquin 39. Nine plays later, Panthers quarterback Ben Moest scored on a 1-yard keeper for a 7-0 Lena-Winslow lead.

The Panther defense forced another three-and-out on the next drive and was rewarded with another short, into-the-wind punt and the ball on the Aquin 40. Toward the end of the first quarter, the drive bogged down at the 11. Le-Win coach Ric Arand chose to forego a sure field goal and double digit lead on fourth-and-4. A Ben Schubert run came up short to turn it over on downs, but the Bulldogs were pinned in at their 8 and still working against Mother Nature as well as the Panthers.

The Le-Win defense forced the Bulldogs backwards on three straight plays and Arand burned all three of the Panthers’ timeouts to keep the wind in the Aquin punter’s face.

Oakley fielded the short punt at the Aquin 30 and returned it to the 19. He would take it the rest of the way on the next play on a 19-yard touchdown run for a 14-0 lead to end the wind and Panthers-dominated first quarter.

“We took the timeouts because we knew they wanted the wind and they were going to pass on us when they got it,” said Oakley, who finished with 196 yards on 28 carries. “We took that last timeout with 13 seconds left on the clock and we knew if we punched it in, it would take the wind out of their sails.”

In the second quarter, Aquin had the wind at their backs and quarterback Aiden Chang threw two touchdowns — a 24-yarder to Townsend and an 8-yarder to Dean Sopcic — to keep the game close at 21-12.

Aquin had one more chance to get the ball back with the wind in the second quarter when they called a defensive timeout on a third-and-6 play with 34 seconds left in the half, but Oakley burst through the line for a 63-yard game-deciding touchdown run and a 28-12 halftime lead. Just like that, the Bulldogs’ comeback hopes were gone with the wind.

“I saw they were two safety high right before we came out and I knew they’d done that the last time we were against them and I ran like a 70-yarder on them,” Oakley said. “I told the line to keep churning their feet and I promise I’ll get it in there and they made amazing blocks. I can’t thank the guys enough for busting their butts and I wouldn’t want to run behind anybody else.”

That line helped Le-Win running backs amass 350 yards rushing.

“(Aquin) put 11 guys in the box if you really get right down to it and I think that was the only way they thought they could contain us,” said Arand. “Our O line did a nice job. We’d worked all week long on facing a Gap-8 and they stayed in it most of the game. We just kept churning away.”

With the win, Le-Win earned a trip to Stockton to face the undefeated Blackhawks.